Social media and promotion are not my favorite thing but I've accepted it as part of the business of writing. If you want people to know about your books you must get the word out. One of those ways is on Twitter. You'll find lots of advice out there, some good and some not so good. As with most promotion, you need to find your comfort zone in how you use the tweet verse. And remember what works for someone else might not work for you. Take all advice including mine with a grain of salt.
At one of my local writing groups we had a speaker who shared some expert advice on using twitter. She strongly suggested that you don't connect your twitter account to your Facebook account. People on Facebook don't like the short, sometimes confusing 140 character tweets. It also makes you look lazy.
This same speaker also said you should do at least four tweets per day to promote a product. But not all tweets should be about your product (book). Share funny things or interesting links. Be careful to not get involved in political debates.
Plan your tweets ahead of time. I spent a little time each weekend writing down some tweets about my books. Then it only takes me a few minutes each day to tweet about my books. Every time you write a new blog post, tweet about it. Read an interesting blog or news article, tweet about it with a link. One of your friends tweet about their blog or a book? Retweet for them. Someday they may retweet for you.
Follow people who have the same interests as you. Hopefully, they follow you back. Perhaps your publisher makes it easy to tweet an announcement about your book. Use the easy link they provide. Be careful not to get sucked into spending hours on twitter. There are so many interesting links posted there you can end up exploring all day long.
Don't forget to get your post ready for the IWSG book. And visit the IWSG blog for another great post. Maybe even tweet about it.
Follow me on Twitter if you're not already. Do you tweet? Do you plan ahead of time? Any advice for using the twitter verse for promotion?
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Monday, September 15, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
7 Reasons To Be a Group
Recently I read a blog post about a writer who quit because she felt overwhelmed by the amount of time she needed to spend on promotion. The time she felt pressured to promote on social media had drained the joy of writing and only added stress to what had once been a dream come true. It was sad, and I've heard others express their frustration and distaste of that part of the business. Even authors contracted by the big traditional publishers must parcel out pieces of their writing time to promotion.
I have no easy answer because if a writer wants their work to read readers they must use social media to get their word out. This is especially true of indie-published authors and those published by small presses. But there are ways to lessen the stress. Don't do it alone. Be a group. A group blog. A group Facebook page. A group Twitter. Make a schedule and a plan so the group is active on whatever forum it is. What are the benefits? Most of the below refer to blogs but would be true for FB or Twitter also.
1. The most obvious is time. If you belong to group blog, instead of feeling like you need to post every day, you might only post every two weeks or even once per month. You're still active but not spending as much time.
2. Each member of the group brings their own strengths and widens the fields of expertise contributing to the blog. Do make sure the people in your group actually have something to contribute. Most writers do.
3. Having different people posting varies the 'voice' of the blog. Perhaps someone brings humor and another writes in a highly professional manner.
4. You have an immediate wider audience group. Each member brings their own friends, fans and contacts. Even if you start with mostly family, friends and known professional contacts, those branches will sprout and grow.
5. Each member will also bring connections to other forms of social media. Nearly all writers will have a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn presence. When they post and link their posts to those platforms, all members are appearing there too. It helps everyone.
6. Not to be overlooked is the security and comfort of being part of a group. You'll find support and assistance among your members. You'll learn things from them.
7. By having others depend on you to do you share, it will force you to stay active even when the business has weighed you down.
Please visit me today at the IWSG Blog, a group I'm very proud to be part of. Are you a member of a group blog? What do you see as the benefits? Does social media stress you at times? How do you motivate yourself to stay active?
I have no easy answer because if a writer wants their work to read readers they must use social media to get their word out. This is especially true of indie-published authors and those published by small presses. But there are ways to lessen the stress. Don't do it alone. Be a group. A group blog. A group Facebook page. A group Twitter. Make a schedule and a plan so the group is active on whatever forum it is. What are the benefits? Most of the below refer to blogs but would be true for FB or Twitter also.
1. The most obvious is time. If you belong to group blog, instead of feeling like you need to post every day, you might only post every two weeks or even once per month. You're still active but not spending as much time.
2. Each member of the group brings their own strengths and widens the fields of expertise contributing to the blog. Do make sure the people in your group actually have something to contribute. Most writers do.
3. Having different people posting varies the 'voice' of the blog. Perhaps someone brings humor and another writes in a highly professional manner.
4. You have an immediate wider audience group. Each member brings their own friends, fans and contacts. Even if you start with mostly family, friends and known professional contacts, those branches will sprout and grow.
5. Each member will also bring connections to other forms of social media. Nearly all writers will have a Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn presence. When they post and link their posts to those platforms, all members are appearing there too. It helps everyone.
6. Not to be overlooked is the security and comfort of being part of a group. You'll find support and assistance among your members. You'll learn things from them.
7. By having others depend on you to do you share, it will force you to stay active even when the business has weighed you down.
Please visit me today at the IWSG Blog, a group I'm very proud to be part of. Are you a member of a group blog? What do you see as the benefits? Does social media stress you at times? How do you motivate yourself to stay active?
Friday, May 23, 2014
5 Agent Insights
I'm continuing with sharing some of the tidbits I picked up when attending the Pennwriters conference. One session I attended, How to Succeed for Writers: Agent Insights and Tips, was led by Marie Lamba and Roseanne Wells, both of the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. You'll notice I only have five things to share from the hour long presentation. Both agents were energetic and interesting speakers but in this workshop, they spent all their time talking and allowed little time for questions.
Here is what they shared about their particular agency.
1. Make sure you know what the agent wants to represent. I think we'll all heard this before. Do your research before submitting.
2. On the other hand, at their particular agency if they receive something they think another agent in their company would like, they will pass it around the office.
3. Speaking as if it was a pet peeve, both agents warned writers to make sure you use professional salutations on all correspondence including email.
4. They do expect you to have a social media presence before you contact them. They shared that if they were considering two different projects of equal appeal, they would chose to represent the writer who had an established online profile.
5. Another recommendation from the agents was for a writers to educate themselves on the entire process of a book going from submission to publication. This would help the writer be patient during the sometimes lengthy times between contract and actual book release.
Not a lot of WOW information to be shared here. I think there might have been if there had been a chance for more questions.
Do you write emails with the same professional manner as a snail mail letter? What question might you have asked these agents if given the opportunity? Would you have found this presentation interesting or would you have been on Twitter like I was during some of it?
Here is what they shared about their particular agency.
1. Make sure you know what the agent wants to represent. I think we'll all heard this before. Do your research before submitting.
2. On the other hand, at their particular agency if they receive something they think another agent in their company would like, they will pass it around the office.
3. Speaking as if it was a pet peeve, both agents warned writers to make sure you use professional salutations on all correspondence including email.
4. They do expect you to have a social media presence before you contact them. They shared that if they were considering two different projects of equal appeal, they would chose to represent the writer who had an established online profile.
5. Another recommendation from the agents was for a writers to educate themselves on the entire process of a book going from submission to publication. This would help the writer be patient during the sometimes lengthy times between contract and actual book release.
Not a lot of WOW information to be shared here. I think there might have been if there had been a chance for more questions.
Do you write emails with the same professional manner as a snail mail letter? What question might you have asked these agents if given the opportunity? Would you have found this presentation interesting or would you have been on Twitter like I was during some of it?
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
ReDo!
One of my fellow CPRW writers wrote a great article for our monthly newsletter. It has been almost two months since most people set their 2014 goals or maybe you dared to call yours resolutions. We know what happens to most of those.
Elizabeth Delafield suggests you don't through that list away. Redo it. Rework some dates. Revise your goals. The start of March, one sixth of the way through the year, maybe you have a better idea of how reachable those goals are.
Maybe your goal is no longer as important. Maybe you've already achieved it. Perhaps due to circumstances beyond your control, you can't meet your original time frame. Sometimes a third party interferes with your ability to meet your goal.
So take the time this weekend to adjust and reload. You can redo or rewrite those goals. They belong to you so take charge of them.
On another note, last week for the Ubuntu blogfest I wrote about Penn State's Thon that raises money for the Four Diamonds Fund that battles childhood cancers. They trended on Twitter all weekend so I hope you noticed that. Check out the pictures. One of their total raised for this year and the other one my son sent me at 2:00am Saturday from the floor. As you can see, they raised over 13.3 million this year alone.
So how are your goals going for this year? Need to reset a few? Didn't bother to set any?
Elizabeth Delafield suggests you don't through that list away. Redo it. Rework some dates. Revise your goals. The start of March, one sixth of the way through the year, maybe you have a better idea of how reachable those goals are.
Maybe your goal is no longer as important. Maybe you've already achieved it. Perhaps due to circumstances beyond your control, you can't meet your original time frame. Sometimes a third party interferes with your ability to meet your goal.
So take the time this weekend to adjust and reload. You can redo or rewrite those goals. They belong to you so take charge of them.
On another note, last week for the Ubuntu blogfest I wrote about Penn State's Thon that raises money for the Four Diamonds Fund that battles childhood cancers. They trended on Twitter all weekend so I hope you noticed that. Check out the pictures. One of their total raised for this year and the other one my son sent me at 2:00am Saturday from the floor. As you can see, they raised over 13.3 million this year alone.
So how are your goals going for this year? Need to reset a few? Didn't bother to set any?
Friday, January 10, 2014
It's Everywhere
I have a new book coming out later this month, so I'm thinking about promo more than I usually do.
Marketing can be very time consuming. Actually it can be all consuming. People are faced with somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 messages per day. Most people ignore a large portion of those. How should I make my promotional message stand out among those numbers?
I know some authors who believe flooding Facebook and Twitter with their release messages will give their book the boost it needs to standout among so many. Not my thing though I'll certainly mention it a few times.
Another avenue, of course, is to use your blog to promote. And I'll do that also. I'll include a blurb but probably not an excerpt. I'll link to one on my publisher's website in case a visitor does want to read that. But I've recently learned another anagram. TLDR.
To Long Didn't Read. We've all done it. Visited a blog and the post is so long, we skim through it or skip it all together. As part of my promotion efforts later this month I'm going to make sure I don't violate the TLDR rule of blog visitor attention length.
Do you think that number for marketing messages is accurate? Do you think the flooding of Facebook and Twitter works for promotion? Every skip or skim a blog because it's too long? Are you my friend on Twitter or Facebook?
Marketing can be very time consuming. Actually it can be all consuming. People are faced with somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 messages per day. Most people ignore a large portion of those. How should I make my promotional message stand out among those numbers?
I know some authors who believe flooding Facebook and Twitter with their release messages will give their book the boost it needs to standout among so many. Not my thing though I'll certainly mention it a few times.
Another avenue, of course, is to use your blog to promote. And I'll do that also. I'll include a blurb but probably not an excerpt. I'll link to one on my publisher's website in case a visitor does want to read that. But I've recently learned another anagram. TLDR.
To Long Didn't Read. We've all done it. Visited a blog and the post is so long, we skim through it or skip it all together. As part of my promotion efforts later this month I'm going to make sure I don't violate the TLDR rule of blog visitor attention length.
Do you think that number for marketing messages is accurate? Do you think the flooding of Facebook and Twitter works for promotion? Every skip or skim a blog because it's too long? Are you my friend on Twitter or Facebook?
Friday, January 3, 2014
Are You Notable?
With my new 'take the pressure' off myself plan for 2014, I took some time to see if all the efforts I've been going to have made my social presence anything of note. This article in Writer's Digest 2014 Yearbook gave me these benchmarks along with lots of other goodies. I assume this is the author's opinion and nothing really scientific but it's interesting.
Twitter followers? You need 5,000 to be notable, 15,000 to be very notable and 50,000 is impressive.
Blog page views? 20,000/month to be notable, 100,000 to be very notable and 500,000 to be impressive.
Have a newsletter? 5,000 subscribers to be notable, 20,000 to be very notable and 100,000 to be impressive.
Have some self-pubbed books for sale? Sell 2,000/month to be very notable, 6,000 to be very notable and 15,000 to be impressive.
What did I learn from these interesting numbers? I'm not very notable. I've read some recommendations on how to make a big splash on Twitter and Facebook, a viral book campaign to up your numbers. Not something I'm comfortable with. I spend a little time each day on those two media giants and try to blog three times per week. I'm making contacts and friends, and that's enough note for me.
So do you make the notable level or perhaps you're even impressive? Do you have a newsletter or subscribe to author newsletters?
If you're not already my friend on Facebook or Twitter, I would love to connect to you there.
Twitter followers? You need 5,000 to be notable, 15,000 to be very notable and 50,000 is impressive.
Blog page views? 20,000/month to be notable, 100,000 to be very notable and 500,000 to be impressive.
Have a newsletter? 5,000 subscribers to be notable, 20,000 to be very notable and 100,000 to be impressive.
Have some self-pubbed books for sale? Sell 2,000/month to be very notable, 6,000 to be very notable and 15,000 to be impressive.
What did I learn from these interesting numbers? I'm not very notable. I've read some recommendations on how to make a big splash on Twitter and Facebook, a viral book campaign to up your numbers. Not something I'm comfortable with. I spend a little time each day on those two media giants and try to blog three times per week. I'm making contacts and friends, and that's enough note for me.
So do you make the notable level or perhaps you're even impressive? Do you have a newsletter or subscribe to author newsletters?
If you're not already my friend on Facebook or Twitter, I would love to connect to you there.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Better New Year
Welcome 2014 and I wish all of you a better 2014 than 2013. If 2013 was a good year for you, then I hope this one is even better. For some 2013 was the year of challenge and adversity, perhaps disappointment. To you I say Happy, Better New Year.
Last year for the A to Z challenge, my theme was based on all the things I intended to do once I left my day job and became a full time writer. An entire list of goals to make myself a better, more prolific and more profitable writer. After four months of being a full time writer I have some general reflections on what I thought were great ideas.
Firstly, I love being at home and writing every day. The only days I haven't written in the past four months have been days I was traveling. I love having that cup of coffee or hot tea at my elbow. I like wearing my fuzzy socks and slippers to my job and getting the laundry done in between scenes. It's wonderful.
But I've also found I put a lot of pressure on myself to keep up with promotion and social media. When I had the old day job, I knew I didn't have enough time to spend hours on that side of the writing life. But now I should have the time and always feel like I should be doing more. More Facebook, more Twitter, more blogging and more, more everything. It sucks a little joy from the writing experience. But a few days ago I was enjoying browsing at the bookstore, flipping through some writer magazines, when I realized how much I enjoyed the unhurried moments like that one. And I discovered my New Year's resolution.
I'm not marking down a number of pages, novels or short stories that I'm going to write. I'm not going to vow a certain amount of blogging or other social media. Instead, this year I'm going to find my comfort zone. I'm going to avoid any stress or frustration with how much social media work I do or how much promotion I get done. I'm going to be myself and not try to make myself into some media wizard. I'll take time to enjoy the stack of jigsaw puzzles I have been longing to indulge in. I'll try some of those recipes I've found on Pinterest. I'll work on my cross-stitch that I find so rewarding. I will work out most days. I'm going to find that balance between my writing job and the rest of my life. I will never live up to all the goals I set down last April in A to Z. And I think it will make my 2014 a Happy Better New Year.
Are you setting goals for next year? Was 2013 good for you? Don't forget that IWSG will post next Wednesday instead of today.
Last year for the A to Z challenge, my theme was based on all the things I intended to do once I left my day job and became a full time writer. An entire list of goals to make myself a better, more prolific and more profitable writer. After four months of being a full time writer I have some general reflections on what I thought were great ideas.
Firstly, I love being at home and writing every day. The only days I haven't written in the past four months have been days I was traveling. I love having that cup of coffee or hot tea at my elbow. I like wearing my fuzzy socks and slippers to my job and getting the laundry done in between scenes. It's wonderful.
But I've also found I put a lot of pressure on myself to keep up with promotion and social media. When I had the old day job, I knew I didn't have enough time to spend hours on that side of the writing life. But now I should have the time and always feel like I should be doing more. More Facebook, more Twitter, more blogging and more, more everything. It sucks a little joy from the writing experience. But a few days ago I was enjoying browsing at the bookstore, flipping through some writer magazines, when I realized how much I enjoyed the unhurried moments like that one. And I discovered my New Year's resolution.
I'm not marking down a number of pages, novels or short stories that I'm going to write. I'm not going to vow a certain amount of blogging or other social media. Instead, this year I'm going to find my comfort zone. I'm going to avoid any stress or frustration with how much social media work I do or how much promotion I get done. I'm going to be myself and not try to make myself into some media wizard. I'll take time to enjoy the stack of jigsaw puzzles I have been longing to indulge in. I'll try some of those recipes I've found on Pinterest. I'll work on my cross-stitch that I find so rewarding. I will work out most days. I'm going to find that balance between my writing job and the rest of my life. I will never live up to all the goals I set down last April in A to Z. And I think it will make my 2014 a Happy Better New Year.
Are you setting goals for next year? Was 2013 good for you? Don't forget that IWSG will post next Wednesday instead of today.
Monday, November 25, 2013
When You're Famous...
I recently participated in an online class about self promotion and the use of social media to do so. What did I learn? Not that I'm not really good at it. I almost never ask anyone to mention my books, cover reveals or releases. Though I am deeply grateful that some of my friends do. I don't know what I don't ask, something in my upbringing, because I like doing the same thing for other people.
Touting my books on twitter or Facebook isn't in my comfort zone though in this class I took, the message was to hit those venues really hard and often with promotion. So I try to do a little. I wouldn't miss tweeting or updating my status on Facebook of those two sites disappeared suddenly.
Blogging might be the only social media I would miss if I suddenly stopped. Though I have family I would keep up with on Facebook. No tweeting ever again for me. And that brought me to an article I read about a famous author who stayed completely out of the public eye. He avoided all interaction with his readers and fans. He was very, very successful, beyond even what I've dream of.
So my question in this short post, if you were really famous would you quit promoting online? Would you stay in touch with fans you've met on Facebook or Twitter? Would you put yourself out there with appearances and readings? Or would you stay at home, doing nothing but writing and reading your reviews?
If you want to touch base with me on those media spots I avoid most of the time. Here's my Facebook page and here I am on Twitter. Maybe I'll see you there.
Touting my books on twitter or Facebook isn't in my comfort zone though in this class I took, the message was to hit those venues really hard and often with promotion. So I try to do a little. I wouldn't miss tweeting or updating my status on Facebook of those two sites disappeared suddenly.
Blogging might be the only social media I would miss if I suddenly stopped. Though I have family I would keep up with on Facebook. No tweeting ever again for me. And that brought me to an article I read about a famous author who stayed completely out of the public eye. He avoided all interaction with his readers and fans. He was very, very successful, beyond even what I've dream of.
So my question in this short post, if you were really famous would you quit promoting online? Would you stay in touch with fans you've met on Facebook or Twitter? Would you put yourself out there with appearances and readings? Or would you stay at home, doing nothing but writing and reading your reviews?
If you want to touch base with me on those media spots I avoid most of the time. Here's my Facebook page and here I am on Twitter. Maybe I'll see you there.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
A to Z Blogging Challenge: U
U: Update. Update everything and often. Update all my online profiles. Update all the pages on my blog. Update this blog in so many ways. I'm going to update my author's page on Amazon. I'm going to update some promotional items languishing in my desk. Changing things around on this blog may help bring readers back time and time again.
I'm going to update my friends list on Facebook. Early on I accepted just about any friends. I need to whittle that list down. I'm going to post more on Twitter more even though I'm not a fan. As I told you on letter E, I'm also going to update the equipment I use to write with. Don't worry, you all will be some of the first to know when I get a new computer. I'm going to update my list of online review sites. The list could go on and on but my point is there are tons of updates I can be constantly doing but I put them off for a day when I have more time. That time will come in June.
How often do you update your blog(I don't mean new posts) or website? Do you keep all those different profiles you have online somewhere up to date?
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Distractions
Sorry I didn't visit many blogs this weekend, but yesterday, my husband and I celebrated our wedding aniversary. Our children now that they are older have started a tradition of all day game day for our aniversary. It's kind of like a family reunion with a ladder ball tournament, swimming, cards, basketball shooting contests, and lots of food. It's exhausting and completely fun. So that's where I've been. I'll also be out of town later this week when my husband and I go away for two days alone.
Our aniversay was a distraction or an excuse for not writing or blogging, but it's very easy to get distracted by many other things especially when working on a computer. Facebook, twitter even blog hopping can take up valuable and limited writing time. All this reminds me a program you can download called SelfControl which can be set to shut down your email and social network for a chosen period of time. Really?
I confess to procrastination. I admit to visiting blogs when I should be working on that WIP. And I do check out Facebook when I shouldn't. But I can control it. I don't need a special program to look over my shoulder and 'control' my activities. Have you heard of this? Would you use something like this?
Our aniversay was a distraction or an excuse for not writing or blogging, but it's very easy to get distracted by many other things especially when working on a computer. Facebook, twitter even blog hopping can take up valuable and limited writing time. All this reminds me a program you can download called SelfControl which can be set to shut down your email and social network for a chosen period of time. Really?
I confess to procrastination. I admit to visiting blogs when I should be working on that WIP. And I do check out Facebook when I shouldn't. But I can control it. I don't need a special program to look over my shoulder and 'control' my activities. Have you heard of this? Would you use something like this?
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Favorite Snow Day Activity
Once again the prospect of a snow day hangs over the head of central Pennsylvania school children and their teachers. Or is it a dangling carrot? Those unexpected days off are also such a pleasant surprise and it's very tempting to sleep late, laze around and do nothing. I hate to waste the gift of a day though so I already have plans.
First I will fill the bread machine with the ingredients I have had sitting ready for almost a week. I also have plans for a new oatmeal cookie receipe I must try. Cookies with oatmeal in can't be fattening, can they? While I'm baking those, I'm going to get put together some chicken corn soup. Perfect for an icy, snowy day. Of course, all this is dependent on the electricity staying on which is not a given whenever we have an ice storm.
My daughter has brought a nice stack of wood into the garage so we can get that fireplace roaring tomorrow. A pot of hot tea and maybe our favorite version of Jane Austen in the DVD player and I'm set.
Between taking batches of cookies out of the oven, I'm going to do my daily blog visits and check in with facebook and twitter. Then while the soup simmers and the bread rises, I'm going for a 5K day on the WIP.
So I'm doing my 'snow dance' this evening and hoping for that unexpected vacation day. Be safe.
First I will fill the bread machine with the ingredients I have had sitting ready for almost a week. I also have plans for a new oatmeal cookie receipe I must try. Cookies with oatmeal in can't be fattening, can they? While I'm baking those, I'm going to get put together some chicken corn soup. Perfect for an icy, snowy day. Of course, all this is dependent on the electricity staying on which is not a given whenever we have an ice storm.
My daughter has brought a nice stack of wood into the garage so we can get that fireplace roaring tomorrow. A pot of hot tea and maybe our favorite version of Jane Austen in the DVD player and I'm set.
Between taking batches of cookies out of the oven, I'm going to do my daily blog visits and check in with facebook and twitter. Then while the soup simmers and the bread rises, I'm going for a 5K day on the WIP.
So I'm doing my 'snow dance' this evening and hoping for that unexpected vacation day. Be safe.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Twittering away
Like many of my fellow authors, I've been spending some time on Twitter. I find some great links to articles on there and have met so many experts on site traffic, promotion and even some nearly local independent bookstores. If you haven't set up an account on Twitter, you should consider it. I get lots of hits to my website from twitter and I hope to soon get more to this blog from my friends there. Please friend me if you're already there.
http://www.twitter.com/susankelley
I'll follow you back and have fun with the tweeting.
http://www.twitter.com/susankelley
I'll follow you back and have fun with the tweeting.
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